Monday, July 14, 2008

It's a rare blizzard that consists of 8 flakes. The storm of returned "snowflakes" (OC awards) that was predicted by swooning anti-choicers following Dr. Morgentaler's induction into the Order of Canada is winding down already, after two weeks and only about eight (8) OC awards either returned, or supposedly on their way. As usual, "pro-lifers" desperate to sustain some media momentum are embarrassing themselves in a groaningly painful way as they grasp at the fading spotlight like the shameless attention whores they are.

Lawyer Eddie Greenspan summed up the stupidity well in his op-ed today in the Edmonton Sun:

"I don't know if I have ever witnessed a more absurd protest than the current nonsense regarding the awarding of the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler.

Whether you're pro-life or pro-choice, it doesn't matter to me. My opinion on the subject of abortion is irrelevant. But I will share my opinion that I think that those protesters who would create a litmus test for receiving the Order of Canada are stark raving mad."

Greenspan points out that Morgentaler can't be the only OC recipient who's ever performed an abortion -- there are 500 doctors who've received the OC, should we be checking to see what procedures they've done? There's Elizabeth Bagshaw, a doctor who ran an illegal birth control clinic. And then there's the inductees who are pro-choice -- should they also be checked out for such thought crimes?

But Dr. M is more than just a doctor who performed abortions -- he's an activist who more than any other single individual was responsible for the regressive abortion law being struck down 20 years ago. The SCC decision bears his name, R. v. Morgentaler. Ironically, the reasons pro-choicers hold him in such high esteem are the same reasons the anti-abortion creeps consider him the devil incarnate. Thus their frenzied obsession with him, while excluding other OC recipients who might have performed, assisted with, or referred someone to the same procedure.For anti-choicers this whole thing is first and foremost a PR opportunity not to be squandered. All along they've wanted to ensure that they're part of the media attention the Morgentaler OC has generated -- the silly pseudo-protest of returning medals is just a way of prolonging what is rapidly melting into history "like the snows of yesteryear", so to speak. A symbolic gesture of protest driven by concern about the "tainting" of the Order of Canada by an abortionist? Please. That might be more believable if they didn't insist on their OC returns being accompanied by media fanfare. No doubt there'll be a few more struggling to keep their cause in the spotlight by returning their awards. But as the media attention fades, so too will the impetus to do so. And as Greenspan points out, anyone who'd be so ignorantly disrespectful probably didn't deserve the award in the first place.

UPDATE: Oh, and check this out. A whole lotta shrieking about nothing.